A Prayer to Prepare for Easter
This is a guest post from my good friend and colleague Dr. Randy Millwood, Church Services Consultant for the Maryland/Delaware Baptist Convention, FBC Frederick member, and best Real-Beard Santa Claus in the world. He wrote it as an email to the ministers of BCMD for Maundy Thursday, but it speaks to our situation on this Holy Weekend and so I offer it to you, with the necessary alterations, to help you in your preparation for Resurrection Day. In the Christian calendar, the Thursday of Holy Week is...
A Maundy Thursday Prayer (Psalm 88)
Despair is difficult when the Resurrection hovers nearby. For two millennia the story of Jesus’ death and resurrection have been told and retold, celebrated and feted. Everyone knows how the story ends. It doesn’t end with “It is finished.” Rather, with “”Why do you look for the living among the dead? He isn’t here, but has been raised.” It’s difficult, therefore, to read the Passion–the betrayal, the arrest, the beating, the mocking, the...
The Relevant Temptation
The other day our son Austin asked Pam and me if we had ever gone through anything like the COVID-19 pandemic before. The answer, of course, was no. These are unprecedented times. People are fearful, anxious. Angry. Some are complacent. Some are in denial. We are isolating ourselves from each other. If ever we needed a word from God, it is now. As one who weekly speaks to people about God, on behalf of God, and maybe, every once in awhile, delivers a word from God, I feel the weight of that need to hear...
You Don’t Learn Wisdom From a Book Like Proverbs
Let’s talk about the Book of Proverbs. Hey, wait, where are you going? Get back here! Sheesh, hear me out for a second. I know it doesn’t sound very exciting, but hang on, I’m gonna bring on the excitement in a minute. Well, no, probably not, but hang with me for a second anyway. The Book of Proverbs has been called “God’s Instruction Book for Life,” which sounds awesome. Not content with that pithy title, another person said, “Proverbs is actually a book of instructions on how to live a life pleasing...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Apr 10, 2015 | 6 comments
Apparently there are some Christians who believe that if they bake a cake for a gay marriage that this constitutes an endorsement of the event, and that being forced to do so is a violation of their religious freedom. People of all backgrounds and persuasions have been weighing in, with Christians in particular arguing for or against and using Scripture to back their positions up. In my opinion they are...
Jesus, Zacchaeus & Chr...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Apr 8, 2015 | 0 comments
Sometimes when I start to write something it takes a life of its own and sends me in directions I didn’t intend to go. This is one such blog. It started out as an article for Easter morning, but my research led me to some things that fundamentally altered where I was being taken—dark things that needed to be brought to light, just not on Easter. So I’ve waited a few days. Not everyone will agree with it,...
Easter & Passover: A ...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Apr 4, 2015 | 0 comments
The case of Jesus before Pontius Pilate wasn’t really an issue of whether or not Jesus claimed to be God. Pilate didn’t really care about that stuff. That was religious stuff, which was for the Jews to decide. All Pilate cared about was whether or not Jesus posed a threat to Rome. He was convinced Jesus didn’t. He was wrong. Pilate is often described as a weak and feckless ruler who was lacked the courage...
Who’s Really On Tria...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Mar 31, 2015 | 0 comments
Right now NFL teams are evaluating college players and deciding which ones they would like to select in a few weeks in the college football draft. Most of the college football players took part in the NFL Combine, where they were measured in how fast they can run 40 yards, how high they can jump, how long they can jump, and how many times they can bench press 225 pounds, among others things. Every year...
How To Tell a Disciple
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Mar 23, 2015 | 0 comments
I’m constantly amazed at how much we resist grace. Not in receiving grace, though there is some of that. There are some people whose guilt is so great that they just can’t handle grace, seemingly thinking that it would feel much better if they could somehow earn forgiveness. That would make them worthy of grace. Except that’s not grace; grace isn’t tied to the worthiness of the person receiving it. This...
Grace is Hard Work
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Mar 20, 2015 | 0 comments
A couple of years ago I was making a guitar with zebrawood for the back and sides. Zebrawood is an African hardwood with bold tan and brown stripes, and it was my first time working with it. The guitar was a cutaway, which is tricky because it requires the wood to be bent into some pretty severe curves. My first attempt at bending the cutaway on the Zebrawood was a complete failure. The wood cracked and...
Forgetting Faith in Formul...
Posted by Larry Eubanks on Mar 12, 2015 | 0 comments
Whenever I write or speak about grace, forgiveness, and the dangers of judgmentalism I invariably get some pushback from some who think that I’m going easy on sin. Some of this is from people who seem to genuinely feel that grace itself is too easy on sin. I think this reflects a fundamental misunderstanding of the true nature of grace and forgiveness. Instead of walking away from sin and sinners, grace...
Love, Grace, and Reproof
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Welcome!
I am a lifelong student of the Bible, and have been a pastor for over twenty-five years. My desire through this blog is to help people see things in the intersection of Scripture and real life that they might have missed. The careless handling of the Bible is causing a lot of problems in our churches and our culture--and is literally turning people away from the church, and, sometimes, God. I hope to treat Scripture with the respect it deserves, and, even if you don't agree with what I say, give you some insight.
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